The summoner and the summoned battle as one. A magical tether binds both parties to a contract of cooperation; the champion fights for the summoner's honor, the summoner aids them with critical information and tide turning spells. A level of trust is required from both sides in order for the system to perform with the fewest errors.
The monk's balanced steps propelled him through the dense forest at great haste. His muscles flexed and released freely, the cool breeze of the shadowed terrain felt refreshing on his face and shirtless body, everything was going just right. Many monsters had already been encountered and subsequently felled. Intangible currency was awarded to his summoner for later use. His goal now was to engage the real enemy. The other champions vying for the purple team's victory had to be defeated.
A voice resonating with a familiar magical twinge called out from within the fighter's mind "The northernmost defenses are in dire need of assistance, Lee Sin. I fear our ally, Riven, cannot hold out much longer."
The steps hastened further.
Lee Sin dug his right foot into the cool soil and shifted his momentum to the left. His sprint continued whilst dodging trees and vaulting rocks. Gnarled roots from the most ancient of timber reached out and greedily buried themselves all around the trunks. The ground became more and more uneven, the dirt more and more dark with moisture. Lee Sin brushed past large leafy bushes signature to the rapidly changing terrain. The monk halted as soon as his step splashed into a thin body of water.
The scent of refreshing hydration filled his nose along with the recognition of wet dirt and flora. Lee Sin took a couple more steps out, the water level never clearing half the height of his leather shoes. Sounds of explosive magic and slicing metal echoed far beyond the river to his immediate right. The monk turned his head and listened.
"The electric monolith, how is he faring?" he inquired to what seemed like no one at all.
"Xerath is holding his own. After his previous death to Zed I asked his summoner to execute more defensive tactics. He obliged, and the battle remains at a standstill in the middle of the sundered lane." The voice communicated effortlessly with Lee Sin through a telepathic channel only the two of them shared.
Lee Sin nodded and turned the opposite direction, down where the calm waters led into a rocky outcropping before continuing onward. He set his mark on the long straightaway and kicked off into a healthy pace. As he moved the warrior matched the calm flow of the river in the motions of his arms before him. The left calmly motioned out in front, palm up, while his right arm arched back with a raised elbow, palm down. Every few steps he breathed in through his nose, slow and steady, then exhaled calmly through his lips. The motions of his arms swapped roles. Lee Sin was focused with his mind sharp, for combat would soon occur.
Riven exhaled a shaky breath from her kneeling position. Her shattered blade pierced the dry earth before her allowing some support. With her free left hand she hugged her torso tightly, wincing from the pain. No blood poured from any of the wounds she'd sustained, all of the pain was underneath her exterior. Her bones ached and her muscles blazed with exhaustion.
"I... I need to retreat... I cannot fight for much longer," she begged to her empty surroundings.
A female voice chimed from within her head, "No! Not yet! We need to secure this front! Please, Riven, rise and fight for just a little longer."
The exile sighed and gritted her teeth. Her eyes shut tight as she pushed off with the hilt of her weapon to return to her feet grunting and yelping all the way from her protesting wounds. Riven drew another breath while clutching her abdomen tightly.
Just then, the sound of marching rhythmically pounded just a little ways behind her. Riven turned and looked up towards the massive stone tower, a depiction of a warrior with a great shield and a glowing weapon. Beyond that was a troupe of magical sprites garbed in tattered blue cloaks wielding spiked mallets and staves with blue gems. The sight of reinforcements was a relief. The magical creatures would aid her in attacking the purple team's forces. She decided to follow alongside the leading minion whose height barely reached her thigh.
The brief moment of reprieve allowed Riven to collect herself. The red potion her summoner had offered from before had taken full effect now, the pain lessened but was by no means gone. Her hand subconsciously dropped from her torso as she walked along assessing her surroundings.
The sun shone warmly overhead but a very slight breeze kept the temperature from becoming anything more or less than comfortable. Her surroundings were quiet other than the pitter patter of her minions but it was far from calming. Riven's eyes darted back and forth the further she and her troupe advanced. The champion that had nearly slain her before her last retreat lurked nearby, her warrior's instinct refused to rest. The rocky hills covering the right side of the path she tread soon gave out into thick, tall grass and monstrous trees. The light dimmed immediately just down the path and the dry dirt saturated more and more until it gave way into a very shallow body of water teeming with life and peppered with long leafed plants.
"The river is safe, no enemies are nearby. It looks like our ally Lee Sin is even coming to assist you. Kill some of the purple forces before he gets here and then you can return to base while he covers your position." Riven nodded, accepting the voice's tactical command with heavy reluctance. The mention of Lee Sin let her breathe a little easier however.
A line of purple minions rounded the corner opposite of the one she had just passed. The exile brandished her blade in front of her and took several steadying breaths. Riven channeled a warrior's trance, doing her best to forget about the pain she felt, and instead focus on her summoner's wishes. Trust was required and she couldn't be labeled a coward.
At the sight of each other, both groups of minions fell into a frenzy. Those wielding crude weapons used for bashing or slicing dashed forward and immediately began pummeling each other. Those with staves rushed forward as well and begun channeling respectively colored bolts of energy to blast one another from a distance.
Ignoring the ominous mouth of the river, Riven advanced and caught up to the magical sprites. Taking one last look at her surroundings, she confirmed her temporary safety and waded through the small scale war. A minion robed in bright purple raised its barbed weapon to her. Uncaring for the threat, Riven brought her half-blade up to her right and swung it diagonally upwards to the left. The clash was completely one-sided in force, the minion's arm nearly popped out of socket from being smacked away so forcefully. Still hardly exerting any sort of energy, Riven raised her weapon with both hands on the hilt and jammed it downward into the creature. It's death was quick, the weapon's recovery quicker.
Two purple melee minions remained as well as two casters. Riven stepped to the closest sword wielding creature who was so focused on battling the blue hammer minion that it didn't even seem to recognize the champion before it. Riven slashed downward with her sword, the large gash in the minion's small frame ended its artificial life quickly. Riven spun backward to the last and brought her weapon down in a stabbing motion. The two casters remained.
The first fell to Riven's bladed edge with yet another effortless swing. By now however she was feeling alarmed. An icy chill shot up the back of her spine until it reached the nape of her neck. She glanced about but saw nothing particularly alarming. Riven turned back just in time to see her minions overwhelm and destroy the last of the purple force. They advanced mindlessly on a journey to their deaths in an attempt to destroy the powerful purple tower in the distance. Riven's feet refused to follow.
"I have to go back. The minions are slain."
"A fine job you did too, though you shouldn't have missed that last one," the female voice chided. "Keep going. The next wave of reinforcements will arrive soon!"
"Summoner, if I keep going, I'll—"
"Don't be a coward! We need the gold! I can make you so much more powerful if you just listen to me!"
Riven's grip on her sword tightened considerably. Her brow furrowed and her teeth dug into each other tightly. She was no coward but she wasn't about to talk back to her partner either. Onwards she continued, but only for a few steps. The sight before her made her wounds cry out in agony as they remembered how they were formed.
Wukong the Monkey King dashed into the blue minions with a whooping battle cry and a metal staff held out before him. Clouds encircled half of his body and two more images of himself struck out to the side as he came into contact with the fodder army. All three of the melee minions died instantly, crushed under painful swings of the metal staves both real and illusion. Wukong flipped forward in mid air and slammed his weapon into one of the caster minions, shattering its poor form and leaving it in a pile of reddened cloth and broken bone. The last one frantically summoned its magic and fired it at Wukong. The blasts did nothing as the monkey king simply laughed that playful, layered laugh as he caught sight of Riven.
"You're still here, exile! I figured you'd have run off to your allies after our last sparring." He jammed the metal pole into the ground beside him and cracked his knuckles one by one with the opposite palm. The blue minion near his legs kept on summoning and firing blue bolts of magic though it was certainly in vain, its target didn't even seem to notice.
Riven steadied herself and fluidly swung her shattered blade in a backhanded motion ending in its previous position to get a feel for its weight once again. She gave no response and instead opted for a fighting stance hoping her wounds weren't too apparent.
"Ohohoho! Come now, Riven! No hard feelings! No one could have expected you to claim victory over myself." Wukong went into another series of his iconic animalistic laughs before retrieving his staff and lifting the nearby minion by the pointed hat atop its head. Rather than the headwear coming off, the minion was lifted straight into the air and was forced to hang while struggling for its life. The egotistical combatant flipped the poor creature into the air and brought up his staff to swing like a bat. Once it came into his strike zone, Wukong swung the flexible metal pole with great force to crash into the creature. Unable to change its fate, the minion barreled through the air toward Riven who dodged it by stepping to the side. Its broken form skid, jumped, and crashed into the dirt reducing it to an almost unrecognizable pile of gore, torn clothing, and splintered armor. Wukong advanced slowly toward the exile.
"Now that you're here again, it must mean that you wish to challenge me once more. There will be no retreating this time, exile, hohoho! Come, die with what little honor you have left, coward!" the monkey king whooped. He leapt into the air, far higher than any normal person's ability, and brought his staff downward in an arc to split Riven's skull.
The female warrior would not allow such an audacious strike to connect.
Riven stepped away and spun to her left to dodge the descending staff with ample room to spare. Immediately she went onto the offensive whipping her blade around into a slanted strike beginning from just above her right shoulder. Wukong was far too fast to allow the attack to succeed, instead Riven's steel met the surprisingly resilient back end of his pole. The staff wielder pressed the parry into her so that they were just inches from each other. He flashed a wide, white toothed smile and broke out into laughter.
Riven had had enough of the gloating. She pushed with all her might and shoved the monkey off giving her a little room to formulate her next move. The broken blade she held extended down toward her right flank began glowing a bright emerald green. With a forceful battle cry Riven rushed forward and spun a full circle backward into a strike with all her might, again the result was clanging metal. She advanced once again after seeing that her opponent had reeled back a bit from the power of her attack. The follow-up was a mirror of the first swing, only reversed. Yet again Wukong managed to block, though his wielding arm had been thrown out wide. Her sword glowing brighter than ever before with an ancient magic, Riven leapt into the air and came crashing down with an impressive roar. The monkey king's vision was hampered by the blazing green causing him to miscalculate the arc of Riven's swing. He winced as he was forced backward. Rather than losing balance, Wukong used the momentum to jump backward onto his hands and complete the vault to land on his feet.
Red hot blood began streaming from Wukong's weapon arm up near the shoulder. He looked at the wound and chuckled until it escalated into full on laughter with his head thrown back. After ramping down his excitement, Wukong faced Riven again with an even wider smile than before.
"Very good, exile, very good! I didn't even see that one coming!" He tried to stifle a laugh, then brought up his free hand before his face. After a charming snort he spit into his fingers and rubbed the goo onto the wound. "Hohohohahaaa! Hardly a scoring blow! I don't even feel it!" Suddenly, a red boxy vial appeared in the air before him. Wukong snatched it up, popped the cork with his thumb, and washed it down his throat. Finishing it with a sigh he conclusively tossed the vial over his shoulder where it shattered and subsequently disappeared upon colliding with the ground.
"Now then, where were we?"
Laughing all the while, Wukong brought his staff before him and spun it with blinding speed. He displayed a breathtaking control over the weapon by continuing the revolutions in all directions, even a few times behind himself. He jumped and spun the staff underneath as he completed a front flip landing exactly where he began. The staff ended its display in his grasp pressed against his back, Wukong's right hand holding it down toward the ground as the rest of its length peeked over his left shoulder. His left hand extended toward Riven as a challenge. The white smile plastered on his face was intensified by his showing off.
Riven spat the air behind her teeth with her tongue, trying to appear unimpressed. However, despite being so frustrated by the monkey kings childish and unwarriorlike personality, it was impossible to denounce the skill he wielded. Her opponent was easily one of the most difficult she'd ever faced.
Wukong made the first move.
Swirling clouds of deception began forming around the monkey king's armored waistcoat. He held his staff in front of him and channeled the power from within until it reached its apex within seconds. Again he shot out with blinding speed aiming the tip of his pole straight for Riven's diaphragm. She hardly had time to react, much less come up with a response. Two mirror images of the king covered his flank aiming their weapons to both sides which cut off all possibility of simply rolling or sidestepping. Outrunning the barrage was out of the question.
Riven braced herself and closed her eyes tightly. She threw defense to the gutter knowing full well that Wukong's advance was nigh unblockable. Her sword raised directly above her head aiming for the sky, Riven loosed a warcry summoning the forest green energies from the broken runic blade once again, this time fanning out all around her with offensive gusto. Her response was carried out flawlessly, though so was Wukong's strike.
Riven collapsed to her knees in an instant, her abdominal cavity on fire. Breath refused to relieve her burning lungs, the muscle responsible for the simple act of breathing utterly paralyzed. Her teeth ground into each other as involuntary tears beaded up in the corners of her eyes. Panic crept at the edge of her mind but the warrior's trance stomped it into nothingness.
The smallest blessing of air managed to slip down her throat as her diaphragm frantically worked to return to working condition. It was enough. Riven jammed the edge of her blade into the ground and forced herself to her feet. She had almost forgotten about the monkey king and was surprised to see his status. Wukong was frozen stiff, surrounded by the ancient power her blade summoned forth. Just as she drew a slight breath to prepare a lunge with her sword, Wukong began moving once more, though slowly due to the waning magic that held him. His arm wielding the staff lifted it above in what seemed like slow motion. The powerful muscles in his legs contracted and positioned his feet for a counterattack.
Riven couldn't let this moment go to waste.
The exile gathered all the strength she had left and pushed forward with her weapon leading the charge. The jagged edge where the metal had once been whole easily sliced into the monkey king's chest and out through his back. Riven, in the middle of a mighty conclusive battle cry stemming from a single arduous breath, continued several steps with the momentum keeping her head down and pushing as hard as she could. When the force died out, she stopped and took several ragged breaths still tightly grasping the weapon she had impaled Wukong with.
Riven opened her eyes to see bright red rivers of blood pouring from the edges of where her uneven and thick metal shard pierced her opponent. A smile formed among her dry lips and her breathing regained a little bit more fluidity. She looked up to meet the slain king eye to eye.
Wukong merely smiled a humble smile, one that seemed to accept the defeat. Riven had defeated him in an unfair fight where she was at a massive disadvantage. Wukong said nothing for several long seconds, only stared into Riven's fiery eyes. At last his lips parted, then grew into a brilliant smile. He chuckled, snorted, and then exploded into an uproarious fit of gut-splitting laughter. With each convulsion the streams of his own blood flowed forth faster and stronger.
Suddenly, he leaned forward just inches from Riven's face, the laughter abruptly ceased. His eyes burned holes into Riven's own and she felt the panic return. His words dissolved the warrior's trance.
"Not quite, exile."
A loud, metallic clang overtook Riven's entire world just then. Her vision went hazy and her muscles weak. She lost hold of the runic blade and had just enough coherence to look down and realize Wukong's weapon had never even been raised. Just then, his entire form disappeared into a passive explosion made up of the same clouds he summoned from before. Wukong was gone.
Another resounding metal vibration echoed through Riven's mind. This time a sharp pain exploded in her lower back. Her only response was a pained grunt before falling onto her knees. The world spun. The once flat terrain deviated from its usual axis turning every which way in Riven's vision. She hadn't the strength nor drive to make any sort of movement. She drew in a ragged breath and stared forward as if her very soul had left her body.
The back of her head burned right before her neck was forced to look up and to the right. Riven could barely make out Wukong's face, this time he was not smiling. In fact it was the first time she'd seen him frown. The monkey king's words came through hazy as if she were underwater trying to listen to his voice.
"No one can defeat me. Do you hear me? You're nothing but a cowardly weakling despised by the world. Not even your own homeland wanted you, that's why you were exiled, right? Pathetic. Challenging me was an insult."
Riven felt the handful of her hair release. Directly after that another splitting pain erupted across her upper back which sent her to the dirt in an instant. Again the sound of metal forcefully contacting bone reverberated throughout the area even a few seconds after the strike had occurred. Barely conscious, Riven viewed the world from on her stomach looking down toward the river entrance. By now it just seemed like a big black orb in the center of shifting lighter colors.
"Cowardly..." she managed to think.
An up close view of Wukong's boot came into sight. She heard him raise the metal rod and utter a conclusive, satisfied grunt. The rush of air from the pole's descent seemed to last forever until a suffocating darkness took over completely.
"Riven... I'm... I'm so sorry."